The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-05-13
THE SAHARA DESERT.
I sssssss - Cruel Captivity saa Death -
. the Affieau CoasA

sssssss - Cruel Captivity end Death -
the Afriean Coast
Our voyage will soon be over now,
for We are just passing the outermose
skirt OF that mighty Sahara desert
which I entered from the other side
eight years ago in company with .
group Of adventurous French officers
This will probably be our last glimpse
of Africa for the present, and another
day ought to bring US in sight of Grand
Canary. where we shall go ashore for
a holiday upon one of the most beauti-
full islands in the Atlantic. in which we
may enjoy all the richness and splen-
dor of the tropics without their de-
stroying heat and deadly malaria.
The coast which VIC are now skirting
is the same where the Spaniards pro-
posed to annex sixty miles of seaboard
a few years ago. In this wise UNDER
taking they have certainly little oppo-
sition to fear, for no man in his senses
would be likely to dispute with them
the possession of these barren rocks
and lifeless sands, which extend their
dreary length along the eastern hori-
ZOn as far as the eye can reach. What
the interior of this dismal region is like
may be gathered from the simple.
straightforward narrative of man Of
whom America may be justly proud
that stout hearted New England Cap
tain who was one of the few men that
survived the fearful ordeal of slavery
among savages as greedy and fcroc-
iOus as the vultures who share with
them the solitudes of this accursed
desert. Wrecked little to the north
Of the perilous cape. he was instantly
pounced upon by the fierce Arabs that
haunt it. plundered. stripped and
dragged away into the depths of the
wilderness with the remnant of his ill
fated crew. This is how he describes
his journey: 1.-THE hints upon which
We trod were sharp rs knives. laying
open our bare feet at every step. SO
that the blood dHpped from our heels
rs we struggled on. Meanwhile the
Arabs kept goading US forward by deal
ing us heavy blows with the shafts Of
their spears or pricking us with their
points The burning sand that entered
our wounds caused us intOlerable
agony, and the sun was now beating
down upon us SO fierccly that our ex-
posed skins peeled off in long strips as
If scalded with boiling water. At
length, driven to desperation. 1 began
to look about for large stone. intend
ing to dash out my brains with it. and
so to end my sufferings. But not find
ing one l determined to bear up and
not lose hope while life remained To
me-"
This same coast has witnessed an
other tragedy of European renown. the
mere mention of which, after the lapse
of nearly half a century. sufiices to
thrill with horror all who have ever
heard of it. At the end of one of the
rooms in the great picture gallery Of
the Louvre, in dim and fitful light
that makes its CHASTITY details doubly
terrific. hangs an enormous picture
wave-tOssed raft strewn
with the haggard. wasted forms of y
shipwrecked crew. Some fastening
blOOd-stained bandagcs around their
limbs. Others are lying
PROSTATE, with their livid features and
rayless eyeballs turned blindly upward
to the merciless splendOr of the bright.
cruel sky: Others still nre
despairingly over a sailless
ocean the sunkcn eyes whose fixed
stare of dumb and stony horror haunted
me for many day after first saw it.
There is no need for any one tn ask
what that picture means. One glance
suffices to tell the most careless OBJ
server that it can represent nothing
Dlse than the historical raft upon which
the doomed survivors Of the Me,lusa
fingered out the last days of that long
agony whose sickening details are too
well known to need repetition.-Darsd
Ker, in ~ y Times.